Why We Pray

Introduction

Getting healthy is hard...

It takes plenty of discipline and a goal that is more desirable than the alternative.

In our walk with Christ, we must develop spiritual disciplines.

Spiritual disciplines are behaviors and activities that help us grow to be more and more Christ-like.

For example, Bible reading...

One of the most important spiritual disciplines that we must develop as believers is the discipline of prayer.

Most people pray at some point in their life.

Most Christians pray at times.

But, there’s a major difference between being someone who prays on occasion and someone with a truly disciplined prayer life.

The person with a truly disciplined prayer life will experience challenges in his or her life, for sure, but consistent and persistent prayer not only helps us overcome these challenges, but we are much more likely to see God do some truly amazing things when we commit to a disciplined prayer life.

I believe this is the most important topic for our church to consider at this moment...

We have faced challenges…more challenges will likely come in the future...

Additionally, we want to see God continue to do amazing things in our church and in our personal lives. But we also want to see greater things come about as well.

This will only happen when a significant number of people within the church commit to a disciplined prayer life.

Who will those people be at First Baptist Castle Rock?

Body: Matthew 6:5-8

Verses 5-6

Prayer is an expected spiritual discipline for those who truly follow Jesus.

Notice that Jesus doesn’t say, “If you pray...” He says, “When you pray...”

Prayerlessness is the surest sign of a person not living a Spirit-led life.

It might be an indication that a person doesn’t have a genuine relationship with God through Christ Jesus.

Prayer is a way we show our devotion to God, not a time to receive praise from others.

The term “hypocrite” is the same Greek word used for “actor.”

What Jesus is speaking to here is the fact that many people would use public prayer as an opportunity to seek to be honored by others for their devotion to God.

Thus, they were actors or hypocrites, because they weren’t interested in honoring God, but were seeking to be honored themselves as deeply religious people.

This wasn’t only true in Jesus day. It has gone on throughout history, and still continues today, unfortunately.

In the fifth century, Simon Stylites lived for thirty-seven years atop a pillar sixty feet high and three feet wide to show his consecration before the Lord. However, he clearly wasn’t familiar with the Sermon on the Mount, because while his act looked religious to onlookers and he was celebrated by men for his piety, I doubt seriously that God saw this as the behavior of a humble seeker.

Even today, many would like people to believe they are more spiritually mature than they really are. One way to do this is to pray religiously mature sounding prayers.

In verse six, Jesus is not saying we cannot pray publicly, as Jesus Himself prayed publicly often.

Instead, the focus here is not using prayer as a way to show off to others.

In fact, if someone prays publicly, but never does privately, then it’s likely they are not really genuine in their Christian walk.

I would even go so far as to say, if someone prays more in public than in private, they probably are just praying to be seen as a religious person, not because they are truly devoted to Christ.

Prayer can be done with an attitude of honest communication with God, with an attitude of indifference to God, or an attitude of personal pride.

What Jesus is speaking against here is the attitude of personal pride.

Others who are indifferent to God sometimes will give lip service to prayer, when in fact they aren’t really people of prayer at all.

This is incredibly common today…

If someone lives a life in which they are indifferent to God, then they are not truly a person of prayer.

In fact, our goal should be honest communication with God, publicly and privately.

Here’s something amazing: The God of the universe, Creator and Sustainer of everything, not only welcomes our prayers, but actually responds to our prayers, and according to Jesus, rewards our prayers!

Verses 7-8

Prayer is a way we show our dependence on God, not a way to earn God’s favor.

What Jesus speaks to here is that people throughout the Graeco-Roman world of His day would often pray prayers filled with empty praises to a multitude of gods.

In fact, many prayed to every god they could think of, in order to not offend one or to make sure at least one of them heard and answered their prayers.

Really, it was about trying to manipulate the gods and goddesses into showing them favor.

Instead, as followers of Jesus, we know that our God already knows what we need before we even ask.

Prayer, instead, is a way to we express our dependence of God both to God and for our own benefit.

Do we really believe that we need God’s continual presence and activity in our lives?

Is Jesus saying our prayers shouldn’t be long?

Not really. Jesus often prayed all night.

The idea, again, is are we truly trying honestly communicate with God, or are we trying to convince God to do what we want?

So What?

A self-test when it comes to your prayer life:

Am I truly a person who prays often, or do I only pray when I need or want something?

Am I seeking to honestly communicate with God in my prayers, or am I more interested in looking religious?

Am I truly depending on God daily?

These are questions you can only answer for yourself. You can fool me. You can fool those around you. But, in truth,